Break the Mold

We’ve all heard the clichés: “a chip off the old block,” “like father, like son,” “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” “made from the same mold,” etc. They all express how much a son resembles his father. If your father is a good person, someone you want to be like, it’s great to be like him.

This week, I read in my Bible, Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were (2 Chronicles 30:8). I read this verse aloud to my husband. Oddly enough, he woke up with a stiff neck that very day! He thought the verse was funny!

I don’t think this Bible verse is talking about a physical stiff neck. It’s about someone who is spiritually stubborn and unyielding.

 Not . . . as your fathers were. We don’t have to be just like our parents. We’re free to make our own decisions and to do right. Just because Dad or Mom did wrong isn’t an excuse for us to do the same. In this case, we don’t need to be stubborn against God’s will.

Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.

The alternative to stubbornness is three-fold:

            1. Yield yourselves unto the Lord.

            2. Enter into his sanctuary. (Go to church and fellowship with other believers.)

            3. Serve the Lord.

The reward? The fierceness of God’s wrath will turn away from you.

There are many lessons here:

            May we not excuse ourselves by citing our parents’ failures. We’re

                responsible for our own decisions.

            May we make decisions to do right, based on God’s Word.

            May we regularly meet with God’s people in His house.

            May we serve God.

            And, best of all, may we reap God’s blessings!

It’s amazing the golden nuggets you find in Chronicles!